RealGM

The Game Tonight Made Me Think Of Durant/Beal

Beal's shooting has sucked this year. His overall play has been 50/50 but he's clearly improving and getting more confident. I think he's been really hurt but our bad PG play and Witt's crap coaching. His shooting in College never lived up to the hype until the end of the season so what Im about to say still might not hold true but it wouldnt shock me to see Beal's shooting really takeoff late in the year like Durant's did as a rookie.

Now its obviously a lil different as I said KD shot better in College. In the pro's KD was also clearly the go to guy right off the bat. Most of all KD had very bad shot selection, kinda on par with Chuckford. Beal's shot selection isnt horrible and he's still shooting bad which is something to worry about but my basic point is that I could see him lighting it up late, espically with Wall's return.

I think people forget that KD shot in the 30's and like 40% every month until March where he flipped the switch and turned into the beast. Once Beal continues to settle in and starts getting setup & freed up by a top notch explosive PG like Wall, I could see his percentages jumping up nearly 8-10pts or so (again, thats percentages)

I'm so proud, I wish they had a sobbing tears of joy smiley. Its good to see him continue to improve, he's only 19 and that's what you want to see. Improvement, confidence, and shot selection. He's also turning into a decent playmaker and setup man for the rest of the team. Only 19, but a hardworker and a kid with a good head on his shoulders. I'm a proud St. Louisan today - I caught the 4th quarter and went nuts when he hit that shot, very nice pump fake and step through. And Ben McLemore and BJ Young could both be in the league next year as well.

By the end of this decade St. Louis will be respected for its basketball talent.

Go Wizards - and I'm probably in the minority here but I'd love to see you guys get DMC. DC is the only legitimate sports city in that division (Miami's getting there - Marlins doesn't help) and having a competitive Wizards team would be a big boon for the league.

Speaking of Durant, he did this in his rookie year:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5VDuQOxVUk[/youtube]

Not saying Beal is going to be a Durant level talent. Durants only come around 3-4 times a decade. But we got a player here. And its a good sign that he can be so clutch so young, so early in his career.

That shot could be a turning point. I truly believe that it could give him the confidence to ramp up his play just like you say dlts, especially with Wall returning.

Beal might not win ROY, but no one can honsetly say that Lillard is a sure bet anymore.

Beal in 2013

18.2 ppg
FG% 42.0
TS% 51.9
4.0 rpg
3.4 apg
1.2 TO
1.2 spg
0.6 bpg

Beal's 3 point percentage is up to 32.3% on the year, still weak but "trending". This month he is 14-25.

With those type of numbers he may actually EARN rookie of the month honors.

GeneWilderSTL wrote:By the end of this decade St. Louis will be respected for its basketball talent.

Larry Hughes!

January stats (added a few more categories)
MPG: 38.0
eFG%: 50.6
TS%: 51.9
FG%: 42.0
FT%: 60.0 (1.8/3.0)
3PT%: 56.0 (2.8/5.0)
PPG: 18.2
RPG: 4.0
APG: 3.4
STL: 1.2
BLK: 0.6
TOV: 1.2
USG%: 23.0

Very impressive. Keep shooting well and start to get to the line more.

good good, making me eat my words

The big difference in January is that he is hitting 56% of his 3-pointers. He hit just 18% of them in December. Other than that, his numbers are almost exactly the same as before. This is both good news and bad news.

The good news is that it demonstrates that his overall style of game was solid. He has a well-rounded game and does a nice job of filling up the box score, and he plays pretty good D too. Once he hit his shots, he suddenly looked like a pretty good player. The bad news is that he won't maintain a 56% shooting percentage on 3-pointers indefinitely. Once that drops off, his scoring average and TS% are going to dip quite a bit as well.

I think it's a bit premature to think that he has "arrived" or that he is ready to be a consistent starting caliber player. What this is is a taste of what he might become if he continues to develop. I expect plenty more bumps along the way.

He definitely needs to get to the free throw line some more.

56% is unsustainable, but the key is for it to stabilise in the second half of the 30%s, that is the sound basis he should be working on. But more than anything else the last few games will have done tons for his confidence, and this is what he needed.

He has also been underestimating NBA defenders which leads to a lot of his shots getting blocked or being heavily contested. I think it will take awhile before he becomes effective finishing inside against taller players.

He got clowned trying to dunk on Josh Smith and tried it again against Ibaka yesterday. Pick your spots young fella.

One of Beal's greatest strengths has been the 19 year old's patience and poise...on a lot of levels. It was that patience that helped him to get off the shot that beat OKC. Last night on NBA TV, Brent Barry and Dennis Scott singled out Beal's "patience and poise" when discussing his game winning shot.

pancakes3 wrote:

GeneWilderSTL wrote:By the end of this decade St. Louis will be respected for its basketball talent.

Larry Hughes!

Hughes got a raw deal in Philly, they never should have traded him - he could've had a better career but turned into a journeyman and D-Miles could never focus and he's still only 31. And David Lee continues to be underrated.

Like others have said, Beal's poise and maturity is impressive for a 19 year old. He's got a chance to be really good and he's tough he comes from a good family full of football players, so he'll continue to stay grounded and focused.

I really hope Beal McLemore and Young have successful careers and show St. Louis' youth how its done, we've got a lot of untapped potential.

But back to the Wizards, they've got a chance to put themselves on the map as a destination where players want to play if they can find that core group of guys. I'm extremely anxious to see Wall get back.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI2lyo8PpG0&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

nate33 wrote:The big difference in January is that he is hitting 56% of his 3-pointers. He hit just 18% of them in December. Other than that, his numbers are almost exactly the same as before. This is both good news and bad news.

The good news is that it demonstrates that his overall style of game was solid. He has a well-rounded game and does a nice job of filling up the box score, and he plays pretty good D too. Once he hit his shots, he suddenly looked like a pretty good player. The bad news is that he won't maintain a 56% shooting percentage on 3-pointers indefinitely. Once that drops off, his scoring average and TS% are going to dip quite a bit as well.

I think it's a bit premature to think that he has "arrived" or that he is ready to be a consistent starting caliber player. What this is is a taste of what he might become if he continues to develop. I expect plenty more bumps along the way.

He definitely needs to get to the free throw line some more.

That was the missing piece. That 3 ball. But lets not forget that before he start hitting it, one of the more impressive parts of his game was how well he was finishing at the hoop. I didn't expect him to be that good at finishing on a break so early in his career. He is showing some nice body control around the hoop. He got that one baseline dunk and the next attempt is kind of double pumped and worked himself into an open layup.

I think Wall with Temple, Price and Crawford backing up at PG is going to help him get more driving opportunities. More drives, more FTAs. I agree it would be asking a lot for him to keep up this 3 ball rate that high, but even if it drops some, I see help on the way to get him more drives and FTAs to balance that out.

And look. Our young man is getting some love.

http://games.espn.go.com/fba/addeddropped?

2nd most added player in the fantasy league and he is still only at 56.2 so he could stay there for a little while if he can keep it up.

Back in the ROTH dream. Clearly Lillard has the lead but fun to see he could get him name in the race.

Nice to have something we can all get exited about for once. Almost anyone else that does well, someone wants to trade him. Beal does good and everyone is happy. He is only 19 How cool is that.

You you think @hands11 he would be progressing if he wasn't a starter?

I think he has progressed....since the year started he have been a monster, the exception coming in miami(they had something to prove)...its only 5 games but he is shooting an incredible 56% from three and 42% from the floor...his steals and assists are up as well....hes averaging 18pts/4rebs/3.5asts/ and his turnover #'s are down to 1.2 as well...this comes against great defenses in okc/mia/ind...I feel its coming from Garrett temple getting used to the nba as he has been the best back pg thus far for Washington...and wall coming back can only help the rookie even more...

As for rookie of the yr...
Its lillards trophy....unless beal keep this production up and become more confident and aggressive...he's 3yrs younger than lillard and is on the league worst team..but he's learning to be assertive and make better decisions and with wall coming back i think he can only get better

Real Deal Beal keeps it going again!

Updated numbers for January:

37 mpg, 44 fg%, 3.7 rpg, 3 apg, 1.4 spg, 17.7 ppg

The only rookie playing better is Lillard:

40 mpg, 44 fg%, 4.4 rpg, 7.3 apg, 1.3 spg, 18 ppg

Our boy Is ballin!!!

And a TS% of 53.3

Just getting better and better.